Dry Eye Blog
Welcome to the first dry eye blog on the web. My research on dry eye began as a medical student in 1976 and I have been productively obsessed with the subject, to the benefit of dry eye patients, ever since. I also maintain an educational web site on dry eye at www.dryeyeinfo.org. I hope patients and doctors find this blog a useful way to keep up to date on the latest thoughts, news, research and information on dry eye.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

New Study Shows TheraTears Prevents Dry-Eye Dry Spots Best

In a new study presented last week at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO 2007) Jacob, Edwards and Gianelloni from the LSU Health Sciences Center tested the majority of artificial tear solutions available today and found that TheraTears lubricant eye drops prevented tear film rupture and dry spot formation better than any other drop tested. TheraTears maintained normal tear film stability for 30 minutes after the instillation of a single drop, even though it was the least viscous eye drop tested. Genteal and Celluvisc maintained normal tear film stability for only 15 minutes, Refresh Plus for only 10 minutes, and Tears Naturale Free for only 5 minutes. Bion Tears never improved tear film stability to the level seen in normal eyes.

In the past doctors and scientists believed that the thicker an eye drop was, the better it would improve tear film stability. Now this new data suggests other properties of the eye drop may be more important in stabilizing the tear film, and that, currently, TheraTears is the best choice for dry eye patients who have unstable tear films.

The study was funded by a Core Grant to the LSU Eye Center from the National Eye Institute, and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness.